Tips for Using Adobe Acrobat Reader

Acrobat "Reader" is a program from Adobe that is used to view documents that are in the "PDF" (Portable Document Format) format.  The Reader version of the software is basically for being able to view documents that have been created using the full Acrobat program, and doesn't allow you to modify or create any changes to such documents.  You can though use the Reader program to copy items from such documents and to print documents in their original format and color.  The full Acrobat program essentially allows the user to create PDF documents.  The benefit of the PDF format is that documents in this format look like a "photocopy" of the original and can be accessed by any user, with any type of computer, in its original design or composition.

Working with Browsers and the Internet

When you install the Acrobat Reader program, it also configures itself to work as a "plug-in" with your Internet browser program.  What is a "plug-in"?  It is a link from your browser software to another program on your computer that will assist it in rendering data that it downloads from the Internet, be it a document, images, video or sound.

When surfing the Internet, you will notice that the "URL" (Uniform Resource Locator) address that appears in the address bar of your browser program starts with "http://" (or "https://" if you are using a "secure" website and encrypting data that is sent, and decrypting data that is received).  Http stands for "Hype Text Transfer Protocol" and tells your browser program to expect to receive data in the "html" format.  Html stands for "Hyper Text Mark-up Language", which is the format data needs to be in, in order for your browser to render it into an image or text for you to be able to view on your screen.

If you receive data that is not in the html format, your browser checks to see if it has a "plug-in" that is compatible with that format.  If so, it will activate that "plug-in" program which will then render the data so that it is useable.  This is all transparent to you the user, but as you will see from the description below, the Acrobat Reader program can be configured to work various ways as a "plug-in".

When you select to download a document from the Internet in a PDF format, the Reader program will automatically open (depending on the options selected in the Reader program - for more information, continue reading), either within your browser window itself, or as a new, separate window.  By default, when you install the Reader program, it has set this option to open in your browser window and will look something like the following graphic on a PC, using Internet Explorer.  Everything above the red dotted line is part of the Internet Explorer program window.  Everything below the red dotted line is part of the Acrobat Reader program.

The silver bar across the top is the "title bar" of the window and you will notice by the icon in the upper left corner, and the text in the title bar, that it is still the Internet browser program window - in this case Internet Explorer.  The first five rows of this window are Internet Explorer functions, i.e. the "title bar", the "menu bar", the "Standard buttons", the "address bar" and an optional Google toolbar.  Following that is a row of tool buttons that are part of the Acrobat Reader program.  So as you can see, the Reader program is set up in this example to automatically open within the browser program.

If you use AOL, the Acrobat Reader program will look something like the following graphic, again on a PC:

Again, the only tools that are available to work with in the Acrobat Reader program are the tool buttons in the bottom row(s).

The disadvantage here is that you are only able to "work with" the open PDF document by using the toolbar buttons in the bottom rows - i.e. within the Reader program itself.  Some of the menu functions are unavailable as they are specific to the browser program only.  You will notice that if you select the "File" menu from the menu bar, that "Save" functions are not available.  "Save" is only available using the toolbar button in the Reader program toolbar.  This button is the one on the far left of the toolbar, of the Acrobat Reader section of the window, that looks like a small floppy disk.

Likewise, the "Cut", "Copy" and "Paste" functions are not available under the "Edit" menu, but the copy function is, using a combination of the Reader toolbar buttons and a "right-click" pop-up menu.

One other disadvantage with having the Reader program open within the browser program is that when you select to download a PDF document from the Internet, you are not given the option of opening (to view) or just downloading (to save) the document.  By having the program set to open within the browser program, the program assumes that you always want to view anything that you download, immediately.

The Acrobat Reader program can be very simply reconfigured at any time, so that it will open in its own window, when you download a PDF document.  To do this, open the Reader program.  You will find the program under "Programs" on your "Start" menu, or you may have a shortcut to the program on your "Desktop" (in a Windows based PC).  Once the program is open, select the "Edit" menu.  Select the "Preferences" item near the bottom of the menu and it will open the following window:

In the column on the left, select "Internet" as you see highlighted above.  This will open the specific window that you see in the graphic.  The first item under "Web Browser Options" will be checked.  If you uncheck the "Display PDF in Browser" item, the Reader program will then open in its own window when downloading a PDF document from the Internet.  Select "OK" to close the window.

Alternatively, if you have the Acrobat Reader program set to open within the browser window, you can still avoid having a PDF document open immediately, and just download and save it to view later.  To do this, right click on the link to the document.  Doing this will give you a menu as in the image below.  Left click on the "Save Target As..." option and this will open the familiar "Save As" dialogue box, asking you where you want to save the file.  You can chose to save the document anywhere you like, and even rename the file, if you want.

If you choose to reset the option to have Reader open in its own window, the next time you download a PDF document, the program will open and the top of the window will look like the following graphic, again on a PC:

You will notice that the "title bar" now shows the Acrobat Reader icon and name in the upper left corner, and the "menu bar" has some new items available, as it is now specific to the Reader program and not your browser program.  The menu bar is then followed by a of row of the familiar "toolbar buttons".  Near the center are four tools that can be used to work with a PDF document.  When the program opens, the default tool selection is the "Hand Tool".  If you move your cursor over any button, you will see a pop-up message with the tool name.  In this case it shows the name of the hand tool button.  Three to the right of the hand tool is the "Zoom In Tool".

Using the "Select Tool" (see image below) you can select or "highlight" text from the document and copy it.  This is handy to use in the VBCG "Homepage" when you want to copy a website address to paste into your browser address bar, for example.  This tool now looks like a "I".  In previous version of Acrobat Reader, this tool looked like a "T" and was referred to as the "Text Select Tool".

If you only want to print a limited amount of information from various sections of our newsletter, you can highlight the text from each section separately, using the "Text Select Tool".  Then select "Copy" from the edit menu.  You can then paste the copied information into a word processing program and print it from within that program.  Some basic word processing programs may not maintain the formatting, font or color of the text you have selected.  On a PC, the "Notepad" program will not retain any of this formatting.

  The "Snapshot Tool" (see image below) works similarly, but anything copied from the document will be in the form of a graphic, including text. In previous versions, this was referred to as the "Graphics Select Tool".

Printing

You can choose to print any or all pages of a PDF document using either the "Print" toolbar button or the "Print" function under the "File" menu.  When you select either option, the printing dialogue window opens as shown below.

You will find that in the "Print Range" options of the window, you can select to either print "All" pages, the "Current" page or "Pages from:/to:".  Additionally, when you have used either the "Text" or "Object" select tools to highlight or "select" a section of a document, there will be an additional option called "Selection" in the Print Range section.

In the "Pages from:/to:" selection, you can choose to print any single page by selecting the same page number as "from" and "to", or any range of pages by setting different page numbers.

In the print dialogue window above, you can see that it shows the printer name "Canon S330".  The name that appears here is specific to your printer installation.  The "Properties" button to the right will open another dialogue window that offers various options specific to the printer you are using.  A couple of the options you may find that can save you ink are "Draft" or "Economy" mode of printing and "Grayscale" or "Black & White" printing.  Draft or Economy will use less ink than "Normal" or "Standard", but depending on your printer brand, may not produce a very readable copy.

Grayscale or Black & White printing will save color ink by converting any color in a document into black and shades of gray.

We hope that this information is helpful in allowing you to use the Acrobat Reader program more easily.  If you still have questions please click here to send us an email.  Be sure and email us too, if you find a neat trick in using the Reader program and want us to include it here on this page!